Monkie is finally here!

Thanks to SE, my monkie from South Africa is finally here, along with a fridge magnet and pair of socks. Not a bit too late for X'Mas! :)

Falafel

Second attempt at making falafel from scratch! It is surprisingly easy to make this vegetarian dish. Staple ingredients are chick peas (garbanzo beans) of course, cilantro, parsley, cumin, garlic, salt & pepper to taste, best if all ingredients are fresh. I used canned chickpeas which doesn't required to be soaked overnight as you would with fresh.

Drain excess water from canned chickpeas, pour it into food processor along with all other ingredients, also added a little coriander powder which is essentially cilantro and some binding ingredient - flour. Blend until you have almost a dry paste then remove and form into little patties or balls and fry them.

I've got to say while they're frying they look intact, but after flipping them, some of them lost their shape and began to crumble... Sigh. I guess need more flour to bind them together. Tastes great though :D

Halloween!

Someone made this for potluck party at work, so cute and creative!

In case you're wondering, it's the shell of orange carved to look like jack o lantern >:)

In the mail, on the fridge

Yay, Happy Birthday to me -- not thrilled about getting older, but who's getting any younger, right? Received this from my youngest adik, just in time for my BDay. Good timing ya :) Terima Kasi for the declaration, so thoughtful of you hehe didn't take pic of the card lah some more got teko...

It was intended to be placed alongside all the magnetic souvenirs collected from travels or whatever, so there is its new home. Oh yea, you can also see some of the souvenirs from relatives down under :)

Short Vac Day V - Santa Fe, Four Corners then Kingman, AZ

Sunday - May 29th, 2011

Farewell Land of Enchantment and off to Four Corners then Kingman, AZ

Woke up pretty early in hopes of covering as much of Santa Fe as we can as we will be driving most of the day today. The night before, we made tuna salad in the bathroom of the motel! Brought Swiss Army knife and opened up two cans of tuna and mix with the yummy Chipotle mayo, left it to 'marinade' in the tupperware in the ice box. Then we also mix strawberries with the Greek yogurt we bought earlier in the day. We had some of the strawberries and leftover from yesterday's dinner for breakfast.

Checked out around 8:30AM and headed straight to downtown. We looked for parking on the street as all the parking structure charge steep fees for per hour rate. Santa Fe is more hip than ABQ for sure and lots of art galleries and arts are just about everywhere you see.

Started our exploration north of Santa Fe square toward City Hall and the courthouse. And made a big U turn and headed south toward the square. Everywhere you look there is a sculpture, this city is just filled with arts, I read Santa Fe has the most art gallery per square mile in the US!

We then make a big U-turn heading South to get to the Santa Fe square, where it's lined with more museums than any one of us could care for since we didn't really have the time on to explore. What I do enjoy is the sculptures and interesting looking buildings, a mixture of Spanish and western styles.

Then, we have the superstar of the plaza, at least in my opinion... the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, tucked away at the end of the street.

It was Sunday morning and a mass was well underway and as you could see it was packed, we only took the pictures from the entrance, looking through the window. We wanted to visit the Loretto Chapel that is a couple blocks away. We tried looking for it on the map and GPS but couldn't quite pin-point where the building is located. And due to time constraint, we figure we better get ready for our long drive to the Four Corners. So, we looked for a place where we can make ourselves something to eat as it was approaching lunchtime. We made some sandwiches and pulled some snacks out of the cooler and head south, almost like going back to Albuquerque.

From Santa Fe to Four Corners, it was going to be almost five hours and we were afraid that we might not make it on time before they close the gate as some visitors have stated.

It must be the tallest peak around as it seems to be visible wherever we go.

I've got to say, it was a little creepy driving this way to the Four Corners as there were not much traffic and we were kinda in a rural area where there is nothing but flat lands. There were a few times that I doubted if the GPS is taking us to the right direction so I constantly check that against my phone GPS.

Another hour or so into the drive, the landscape starts to change and we begin to see more hills and then the much awaited sign:

Pretty much smacked right in the middle of nowhere and a total disappointment. Well, it was something we wanted to see, so we came and saw and left hehe, of course with some pictures for evidence.

The wind blew relentlessly and for some reason I had a hard time standing on one foot, trying to be in four states at the same time, and other variations thereof:

Not much to see really other than the center point. If you see there are stalls at each side of the states and the were very little vendor selling souvenirs. When asked, they are Indian, I don't remember which tribe and they live a few miles away from here. So windy and dry, felt like total desolation here.

There were also barbecue/picnic booth set up at the outer areas surrounding the monument, but the benches were so beat up from wind. No bathrooms on site only porta-potties which were outrageously disgusting, and some without locks. Oh, did I mention there was an entrance free, not per vehicle, but per person? What a ripoff.

Almost an hour into this place, we were ready to get back on the road, knowing that there is another 6 hours drive to get to Kingman, our last stop for the day... absolutely clueless on what's ahead of us.

Sandstorm!

Visibility was almost non-existent at some point depending how the wind blew. I have to admit, being thrown into my first sandstorm without warning is scary and was traveling about 80+mph, had to slow down to probably 25mph and sometimes to complete stop as all we could see was just haze of sand. Good thing there were not a lot of traffic.

Finally got out of the sandstorm when we approach civilization which is about an hour and a half later and boy were we glad to have that behind us. Oh yeah, as we exit the storm, we saw that 'structure' thingy that looked like it came out of Lord of the Rings... don't think it's the same one we saw earlier, but looks similar.

And final picture of the trip. We stopped somewhere around Tuba City to refuel the car and ourselves. Another 3 hours drive and we finally reached the motel a little after 10PM and we were dead. Did not even bother to shower before getting into bed. At least next day's drive home won't be as long and as bad.

There was a lot of driving on this trip. Was fairly surprised that the old GPS took us to all the places we wanted to go. It was a great trip though, forgotten about everything at work and home until on our way back. Next road trip is on the horizon.

Short Vac Day IV - Albuquerque to Santa Fe, NM

Saturday - May 28th, 2011

Short drive to Santa Fe, NM

Prior night, I neglect to mention we saw there were a throng of patrol cars parked by the admin office of the motel before going out to dinner. When we got back to the motel, the patrol cars were still there, not sure if they were the same ones... I did notice some questionable characters lurking around the property, not sure if they were the long-term residents the guy mentioned about or they were just passerbys... 

After a good night's rest, we woke up early in the morning ready to explore ABQ, plus we were short on time. I checked the weather, it was going to a warm day at 78F. After loading all our stuff into the car, we checked out and set off around 8AM to Sandia Peak Ski and Tramway which is about 20mins drive from where we were. Parking entrance was $1, found a good spot at the foot of the hill. Read something about the restaurant on the spot called Sandiago Mexican Grill. At the foot of the peak, we could see bird's eye of ABQ. 

Paid $20/person for a ride on the tram. Was able to crank up some penny souvenirs of the tramway and ABQ. Then we started to get in line for the tram. Looked up on the wall, it says current temperature at the peak: 47F and wind was 25mph... I studied the figures again... that's got to be COLD. And we were wearing shorts. Thankfully, I brought my sweater, just in case. But JP didn't have any on her so we went back to the car and get hers and get back into line. By the time we were back, the line has doubled and almost to the entrance of that Sandiago restaurant, which was just right across from the tram entrance.

Another 5mins passed and we saw one tram descending. Waited for the passengers to unload which weren't many as it was still early. So we all crammed into the tram and unfortunately, couldn't get a window view because everyone who were in line earlier than us glued themselves to the window once entered tram... It was a slow ride going up about 13mph. There were about 3 towers that the tram passes through, every time it passes through one, the tram sways back and forth slightly. Ascending took about 15mins and boy oh boy when we reach the peak, as soon as the door opened, we could feel a constant force of wind blowing. Here's a pic to illustrate how much wind was up at the peak:

Taken back from the blowing wind up at the peak, we stayed at the loading deck for a while absorbing the powerful energy and enjoying the view -- and as far as the eye can see, ABQ is all flat and bits of green but mostly brown. No wonder the forecast we saw down below says wind was 27mph! It was windy indeed.

Look at the first picture -- it looks like cables to nowhere, just dangling in the air...

Second picture - to let you see that the tram actually use the same cables to transport passengers back and forth.

After snapping a few pictures, we walked down the deck/wooden walkway which leads us to the ski lift! I guess I didn't realize it was a ski destination even though that's what it says on the brochure (lack of research). It looked inviting plus this was a ride within a ride and what's more the view was truly breathtaking. It was chilly but the sun was sunny and the skies were clear. What a beautiful day it was. So, we down the steps and inquired about the ski lift. We saw the same passengers in the tram already gotten on the ski chair. The lift "assistants" told us we'd have to pay at the bottom and since we were kinda cramped on time, I asked how long will the entire ride be, he says it'll take about an hour. Ride was $7. That would be a nice experience, I thought.

Inexperienced with these ski lifts, we observed the people before us and try to mimic. But, I guess the lift assistants saw confusion in our faces, he actually stopped the lift so we could get on the chair comfortably hehe I was carrying a backpack with camera hung on my neck, so on the seat I go and I now have a 'frontpack'. The chair vibrates lightly as we make the slow descend. It was annoying at first but after a while you kinda get used to it plus it was hard not to notice the marvelous views presented before us -- that was definitely a first class seat, hanging halfway mid-air. What piqued my interest was how does the chair stays upright when it's being held by what seems to be a clamp on the cable. It fascinates me that the chair is not tilted to one side and seems to defy gravity.

It starts to get colder and colder going down as we get more exposed to the open area and less trees and shrubs to shield us from the wind. Thankfully, I packed a light blanket in my backpack so we used that to cover our legs as I only wore shorts and JP wore cropped pants and sandals! At least my feet was warm in my shoes. At one point, there was this passengers from the opposing side who saw us with blanket covering bottom half, smiled at us and asked if she can take a picture of us haha! I guess nobody else thought of packing a blanket in their backpack hehe There was also another incident where a lady who was also wearing shorts asked if the ski people sell blankets down below. Aiyayay... Along the way, we saw mountain bikers and hikers, lots of them actually. Another thing that I noticed is people are incredibly friendly, the passer-bys in opposing chair would greet you. How nice, so we said hi to everyone else that passed by.

All these picture taken while descending. Marvelous weather just windy.

There were no passengers in the few chairs before ours so we couldn't imitate or learn on how to get off the chair. Simple as it may sound but how hard can that be? A moving chair though... Getting off the chair requires good coordination I tell you. Good thing they have markings on the floor, when to get off and where you're supposed to land, etc. As we approach those markings, for some reason, we didn't budge until the assistant down there told us to haha he held the chair back a little to assist us in getting off. I jumped off a little and quickly twist to my left so the chair can pass by me. It all felt weird and so uncoordinated.The guy laughed when he saw that and said that I showed off with my twist! I told him it was the anticipation of not getting hit by the chair.

There wasn't much to do down there, there was a big cabin which I think is a restaurant, but we wanted to get back up to the peak and see what else is there to see. So we paid for the $7 ride and got back on the chair again. This time, we were more confident. But, the girl assistant who was manning the ascend, told us to hang on to the pole in the middle. This time around, they didn't stop the chair for us. When the chair came around, I calculated and anticipate when it was going to sweep us off our feet, but with all that anticipation, I barely got half of my butt on it so I have to quickly scoot all the way back so I don't fall off the moving chair. Definitely will need to ride more often to perfect the skill of getting on and off these chairs.

All these were taking going back up to the peak.

Upon reaching the peak, once again we got ourselves ready. Since we have this guy who's a couple of chairs in front of us who claimed loudly to the assistants that he has experience when getting onto the chair, we watched him closely when he's about to get off. I told JP, I think the trick is to scoot almost halfway off the chair so that'll enable us to get off easier if the distance is shorter than sitting all the way back. True enough, we saw the guy in front of us start scooting forward as he approached the finish line. So, we did the same this time, but the assistant up top recognized us and asked if we would like to have the chair stopped, I told him no because I wanted to try it out again, so before he could stop, I quickly jump out of my chair and land on my toes, it felt really WEIRD landing on the arc of my foot. He ended up stopping the chair anyway...

Anyway, walked around at the top, there is another restaurant up there serving American dishes, wind was still blowing away, lots of people enjoying the wind and sun on the rocky path. We didn't see much to explore so we decided to go back down to as we were starving for lunch. While waiting for tram, instead of standing out at the deck and getting pound by the wind, we went into this gallery that they have of the place. Just a few minutes' wait, the tram arrived. As expected there were not as many people, so we got to the very front to have the best view. At least it wasn't as crammed as before. Pictures are dull due to the tram's extra dark tint to protect from the powerful rays.

Going down:

The host on the tram is a little older than the one going up and is definitely more entertaining and not to mention knowledgeable. He was giving out trivia to passengers so we learned something about ABQ and NM, such as NM is the only state that has a question: "Red or Green" as in chiles and you can have chiles with every meal. Oh, and Sandia is Spanish for "watermelon" -- referring to the coloration of the mountain during sunset as the rocks turn pinkish similar to the bright color of watermelon. The tram brochure claimed to be the longest aerial tramway, however, the guide says that is no longer true as the title now goes to a tramway in Armenia.

Upon exiting the tram, we walked across to the Sandiago restaurant. We looked briefly at the menu plastered on the wall and decided what we will have for lunch. Once seated, we took off our sweater right away. The server brought some chips and salsa, asked if we would like some time, we said no since we've already seen the menu and knew what we wanted. I ordered the chicken enchiladas with green rice (they asked red or green!). JP was smarter, she asked if she can have BOTH (red AND green rice) with her fish tacos. We opted to dine at the patio overlooking city view, it felt much warmer down at the foothills than up at the peak for sure. It's incredible to have such drastic temperature within a small distance. It's all in the elevation, I suppose.

Famished, I started to chomp on the chips and salsa, they were SOOOoo GOOD! Drinks arrived promptly and food followed a few minutes later. YUM YUM, CHOMP CHOMP

And GONE GONE. Within a few minutes, plates were empty. I think the bill came up to less than $30 including tips. It was way past noon, we were off schedule because we were supposed to leave for Santa Fe around noon and we have not visited Old Town ABQ yet. So, we hurried back to the car and drove back to Old Town. I was afraid that we wouldn't be able to explore Santa Fe as much as we wanted to if we wanted to go to Four Corners Monument... after calculating and re-calculating, we may be able to stick on the original plan, will just have to cut Santa Fe's visit a little shorter.

On the way back, we stopped by grocery market to get chapstick for my really chapped lips and some chips, Greek yogurts and nuts for the road. Drive back to the Old Town took only 15mins and drove around to find a good parking spot since it was scorching hot and didn't want to make the car an oven. We found a public parking spot nearby and found a really nice spot but a little further away with shades. Grabbed our hats and went back to the shop we saw yesterday at the plaza and see if we can get a good deal on those vase. I've already had my eyes on the double spouted vase which I later learned that it's called the Wedding vase. I first saw this vase during the first Grand Canyon trip took with mom+papa. Kinda regretted that I didn't get any from the first trip from the Indians by roadside as their prices seem to be much cheaper than these commercialized ones. This time around, I intend to get one more vase and that will be the Wedding vase.

Walking around the plaza, almost 90% of the shops are full with art stuff -- potteries, jewelries and the like. There were also vendors seated at the porch with their stuff laid out on the floor. We went into most of the shops and looked around, most have the same and a few of the shops sell the same blankets we bought the day before at $12.99!!! We definitely got a good buy then. The first few shop we went into didn't have a smaller version of the wedding vase, but there was one small shop that has it and it was sold around $7. I thought we were still early on our hunt, so keeping a mental note, I'll come back to this shop if I can't find one that's cheaper.

The weather was really hot and dry, at times I feel suffocated possibly dehydrated and nauseated. So, we went to the plaza with a gazebo in the center. There was a mariachi band performing, we found a cool spot and sat for a bit. There were a lot of trees so it provided a good amount of shades for the many people taking a break from the sun and most probably shopping as well or just relaxing on a Saturday. The rest helped a bit so we got back on our foot and check out more shops. One building that stood out in this plaza is the San Felipe de Neri church. We went inside and there were only a number of patrons. It feels peaceful and most of all cool inside hehe JP did a prayer while I snapped some pictures inside. The snapping of picture seems louder inside the quiet church.

Snapped more pics of the shops around the plaza and another plaza within a plaza.

After walking/shopping for about 3 hours, we learned a few other things about the potteries... I've seen a few other really nice ones, two that I particularly like is the storyteller -- it usually comes with a figurine and a few other smaller figurines that's huddled around her. They looked so cute! Another one is a friendship bowl -- usually bowl in the center with small figurines holding hands or just sitting around the bowl, making a circle. Didn't manage to snap any of those, but snapped some other crafts they have in the store:

At one of the last shops located next to a restaurant, we asked the shopkeeper to show us some of the figurines, the storyteller and the friendship bowl, he took them out and some of these goes around $90 and up. He says at one point, they were selling by the number of the figurines of the kids because of all the details involved in painting them. Disappointed, I looked around and spotted a wedding vase. This one is baked with horse hair and there's nothing special about it because almost every shop has the same pot, however, most shops have the same pot but with carvings which I didn't really quite like the combination. Just the wedding vase alone with the horse hair baked in looked simply marvelous.

Trying to hide my excitement, I asked the shopkeeper how much is the vase. He says $24, it was a decent medium sized vase. I was thrilled! I wasn't bothered to bargain as I was tired of it and thought that was a good deal and asked him to pack it up hehe JP also wanted to get a small vase for her collection so I told her to go back to the first few shop that we saw earlier, and so far after a few hours of shopping, that seems to be the only shop that has the small vase with a good price. So, we went back to almost starting point and tried to locate the store. I was positive we went into the correct store but couldn't find that particular vase that I saw earlier. Darn, another one slipped. But at the counter, we saw some small vases and determined they looked nicer than the one of the previous store and cheaper by a couple bucks. So, she asked for it to be packed.

Around 5PM, our time was almost up as we had metered parking. Snapped a few more pictures. Definitely glad we parked under the shade as you could easily fry an egg on the hood or any metal part of the car.

We stopped by McD really quick to relieve ourselves, freshen up and ordered some smoothies and iced-mocha to go. I started drinking coffee on this trip in attempt to keep myself awake during drive! So, we departed for Santa Fe close to 6PM. It was a fairly short drive with the same landscapes and we passed by many pueblos (towns/village).

As we exit the Freeway for Santa Fe, we saw toward our right this mass of adobe houses. I was excited to see so many of them all bundled in one location. So, we made a stop and drive toward that location. It was behind a mall that we parked to take these shots

Not really satisfied with the pictures taken as it does not justify the uniqueness of these buildings and especially with so many of them. JP looked at them closely and stated that these are not the traditional type of adobe houses and that they are modern buildings. Looked at them again and yes, she was right. These definitely are more modern, still cute nevertheless.

We resumed our journey to look for our motel for the night. It was on the same road and a few more miles later we pulled into the motel grounds and checked into our room. After the night's stay at a newly renovated property, and now back to the typical motel setting... we felt kinda bummed out. We reminded ourselves it is only for one night hehe Actually it wasn't as bad as the one in Flagstaff, so it wasn't that bad after all.

Once again unloaded most of all stuff into our room and the same routine of putting the our sheets and pillow cases one, etc. I started to look for potential restaurant to go for dinner fretting that shops/restaurants close early in Santa Fe as well as ABQ. After browsing on my phone for a while, I found one with a number of good reviews and most importantly, an authentic Mexican restaurant, we agreed that's where we will have dinner in Santa Fe based on the items they have on their menu. About half hour later, after refreshing ourselves, we set out to search for the restaurant which thankfully is on the same road and not too far away.

Los Potrillos it was called. Looked empty, well, there were a few other patrons in the restaurants, but outside where we parked looked empty. Probably because it was after 9PM. We were shown our table right away and take a look at the menu. From the review earlier, I wanted to get the Cabrito -- goat stew while JP got Bisteak Ranchero (steak, ranch style) and also from the review, we decided to try the Chiles En Nogada which is another version of Chile Rellenos.

We were served with chips and three types of salsa -- two of them were really really good. Two red and one green hehe and we had melon (honeydew juice). Our food takes about 10minsi to arrive, it looks sooo delicious and appetizing although I kept on munching and dipping on the chips and salsas. Their complimentary handmade tortillas were really good too.

Alas we ordered too much food and didn't even touch the stuffed Chile so we had it boxed to go. The goat stew was really good not to mention the accompanying salsa plus the lime, onions and cilantro make the taste pops even more. It was really delicious but could strain out the floating fats hehe

By the time we were done with dinner, we were stuffed and could barely move anymore. We drove ourselves back to the motel and climbed into our bed and relaxed for a little and planned out attack plan for tomorrow. Once again, we'd have to start early so we can cover as much as possible as the drive to Four Corners Monument will take 5hours from Santa Fe... PLUS from Four Corners, we will have to drive another 6hours to Kingman, which is an hour East of Needles where we will stay for the night... This will definitely be the longest driving day we will have throughout this whole trip.

Short Vac Day III - Flagstaff to Albuquerque, NM

Friday - May 27th, 2011

Drive to Albuquerque, NM

We reached Flagstaff around 9:30PM. After waiting for 15mins for the people in front of us to check in, it was our turn at the window. As soon as I took out my reservation paper, the lady behind the window told me promptly that I got the wrong motel – apparently there were two of the same motel nearby. So, we drove for a couple more minutes to get to the other one. Checked in and unload all our stuff into the room. 

Got to say, this motel was a DUMP. I must have made a mistake when making reservation, thinking that I was reserving the other motel instead of this DUMP. Don’t think the property was taken care of, don’t even know if they washed the linens, the bathroom definitely is NOT clean at all with molds on the ceiling and tub is peeled not to mention the floor is cracked. It felt cramped in the bathroom. There was still hair in the tub from previous tenants. Overall, it was just a nasty place to even stay the night. I was just glad we brought our own sheets to sleep on. It was slightly cheaper than the other properties we've stayed but the standard is just unacceptable.

Alright, moving on… We left for Albuquerque around 9:30AM after finishing breakfast and prepared some fruits and other munchies for the drive which takes about 5 hours. Also replenish our ice supply to keep our food supply fresh. One thing that sort of justified the bad room was the view. It has some really nice mountain-y view with pine trees on the hillside. As we drove we were astounded by this beautiful view of a snow capped mountain, later looked up on Google, it’s called Mount Elden, what a sight. It was a very cool sight to see the peak as the rest of the topography was flat as we drive further East. The geography starts to change really quickly from pine trees to flat little bushes on really vast flat lands. Oh yeah, at Flagstaff, elevation was almost 7,000ft.

The drive was mundane, what we do see is a lot of billboards shouting for us to stop at the next exit to shop at the local Indian stores bearing products such as moccasins, rugs, blankets, stones and petrified wood. There was one that advertised blankets for $7.77, sounded like a great deal that we couldn't resist so we stopped one that’s called Geronimo. It even has teepees on its parking lot.

As soon as we entered the shop, it felt like a trap. First of all the guy who was tending the shop was all White American guy and he has this arrogance aura on him. We looked around, there are a lot of stuff in this place and I wanted to get one of those purple crystal thingy, but for a tiny slab, it costs $12+! cutthroat, but I hang on to it while inspecting the rest of the store. After an hour or so rummaging through the store, I put the rock back and JP bought a tiny slice of rock for about the same price also.

Back on the road again, and more billboards passed by, this time another ad caught our eyes, blankets for $4.99! Arghhh... made another impulse decision and exited the freeway. This Indian store looked deserted, no other car in the parking lot... weird. There was a fast-food place in the shop. Interesting. We stopped for bathroom as well, so it was at least a valid excuse to stop. After a quick browse, this place seems to be legit -- signs posted everywhere 50% off marked prices on the pottery! Whoa, quickly relieve myself so I can inspect the vases. They do have very good prices. The vases are all almost the same as Geronimos and it looked like they may have purchased everything at wholesale price, that is why they're able to give 50% off? Who cares, now I have a hard time selecting one or perhaps two that I really like since it's half off.

I think I spent about two hours going back and forth the countless arrays of potteries, in the end I picked a Navajo vase with some carvings. I wanted two but couldn't find another one that I like and within budget and of course is free from obvious flaws... Oh, and found a bigger slab of the purple crystal for half the price! $5+ I got a bigger chunk! Take that, Geronimo. JP bought a pair of earrings and a small vase for her small potteries collection. We walked around and oops, discovered the blankets which was the initial intention of the stop, couldn't believe our eyes, it was really $4.99. So many different colors, so cheap, gosh, can't make up mind. 15mins of pulling everything out from the shelves, I ended up with a light brown/beige one to accent the dark colored couch we have at home.

Aiyoh, I was telling JP, at our shopping rate, we will never reach ABQ... we were barely halfway there. But then, we told ourselves, we're going to take it easy and enjoy ourselves and should there be a change of plan, so be it. Starving, we got back on the road, opting to stop at the next rest area. It wasn't too far away before we found one. Parked and there are no shades, but what a wonderful view of rocky hillside where we're parked. Decided to get one of the salads from the cooler, chopped up some cucumbers and tomatoes and toss all together in the bag and shake shake shake. Added some avocados too. It was yummy, even brought out some cold iced-tea. Not bad for a meal on the road. I loved the idea of just grabbing food from the backseat haha

After our meal, went again to the restroom and relieve ourselves. Discovered that we've entered Mountain Time, which is one hour earlier than Pacific Time. Woohoo, but oops it will be one hour later when we do arrive at ABQ. So back on the road again we go... there were lots of trailers pulling those 40' containers and also lots of highway patrols. Good thing is speed limit is 75mph, so just set it to cruise at that limit. Stayed on the right side of the highway and zoomed by a parked patrol car. Next thing I saw in my rearview mirror was the same patrol car with all the lights on urging me to pull over. Carefully, I signaled and pulled over to the shoulder.

Quickly, I grabbed my purse and wind the window down on my side. He appeared on the passenger side, and said in a hurry and stern voice for me to wind up my window. I said to him that I thought he was going to come to my side. He then asked for my driver's licence. And then started to ask me a series of questions -- if I knew where he was when I passed him earlier. I said he was parked on the side. He didn't like my answer and he asked that a couple more times and I said he was parked on the side of the freeway. JP changed my answer and said he was parked on the shoulder. He said, NO, and he seemed furious, we did not know where HE was, if he was in front of his car, or at the side or back, because we couldn't see him. He asked us if we saw the trailers move to the left lane when there are emergency vehicles parked on the shoulder. In fact, we did saw one and we were wondering why the urgency to change lane. So, finally, we sorta figure out what message he was trying to convey, I apologized a few times and that I did not know. Good thing my licence and the licence plate do say that I'm from CA, so he let us off and ask us to drive safe.

Truthfully, he could have rearrange his thoughts and take a DEEP breathe so he could explain to us better. His mind was going more than 100mph and we couldn't see which direction he was going. We thought he meant his car, but he meant him physically. Because if he would have stopped somebody and that person decided to push him onto the freeway, traffic going at least 75mph would have squash him like watermelon. So, that was the message he was trying to convey: either move to the left side of the road, OR if you cannot move because there are other vehicles, then slow down... gosh. Now we know. I guess if I was in his shoes, I may be furious too, to know that I could have gotten killed... but he wasn't. Argh.

We finally entered civilization around 7PM, found the motel rather quickly and checked in right away. The procedure this time was a little different than the two nights before. This motel looked really nice and renovated with lots of modern utilities such as flat screen TVs! The only thing they asked us to do differently was to have us both sign the back of our registration card that we will cause no trouble -- the other two motels did not require signatures on that. Odd I thought and curious, I asked the guy behind desk if we were in a bad neighborhood. He quickly brushed that thought and say that there have been some incidents where the long-term residents smuggled some of those flat screen TVs so management was just trying to take step of precaution. Still odd I thought, but we felt secure though.

Got the room keys and found our room right next to the small fenced pool. There were kids splashing in the pool, but there were a couple adults -- the guy was covered in tattoos... Same procedure, unloaded all our stuff and we really really like this property 100times better than the one we stayed at Flagstaff. The floor was hardwood and the linens looked new and clean and the rooms are decorated with modern fixtures. Flat screen TV hung on the wall, NICE! No complaints at all, kicked off shoes and jumped on bed to stretch out after a long drive.

It was so comfortable that we didn't want to leave the room. But, we said that we were going try some New Mexican cuisine once we get here, so we pushed ourselves to get out. By the time we're done refreshing ourselves, it was close to 9PM, so we entered Old Town ABQ on the GPS and it got us there in about 15mins, we ended up at the plaza and it looked nice from the street lights. Excited, we walked around the plaza and saw a church and other shops/restaurants that have closed or closing. We were able to explore one store before they announced to us in front of our faces that they are closing, so we left and just literally window shop hehe, was able to snap some pictures of those at the window... JP says lots of the figurines especially those of animals looked like the ones from her hometown in Oaxaca.

Then soon realized, it was already 10PM and checked Yelp app on my phone that most of the restaurants are closed early especially on weekdays. Aiyayay... so we decided to drive around in the dark to see if we can find anything New Mexican restaurant that is still open, stumbled upon the museum that looked really nice from whatever street light we have nearby. Then, we traced our way back to the motel but kept our eyes open to see perhaps with our luck we could have a nice meal before retiring for the day.

Luck was indeed on our side. It was no fancy restaurant, it was actually a fast-food joint called Filiberto's unheard of this place but glad that it's open 24hours. Great, we thought, parked the car and off we go. Of course when you're in NM, you want to try their chiles. Right away from the menu, I got green chiles with pork and hibiscus drink that they call "Jamaica" pronounced as hamaika. These are not new to the Mexicans, only fairly new to me lah. JP got pork tacos and Jamaica for drink as well. And there was another item that was on the menu that jumped at me -- Chile Rellenos, so we agreed to share that one as it comes in 2. We waited for a while and we noticed the drive-thru customers came, got their orders and more came and got their orders and left and our order is still not up yet... JP was hungry so she got up and went and ask them in Spanish whether they've already started working on our orders. Since we opted to dine in, they were going to prepare our food "fresh"... oooh, OK lah, wait a few more minutes.

Tada... food:

Apologize for the mediocre food pictures, taken with the phone, too lazy to get camera out hehe but not bad quality both pictures and food. We enjoyed it very much especially my green chiles and rice. YUM!!! Surprisingly very tasty food for a fast food joint and also wasn't loaded with salt either. Also discovered that this Filiberto's location is the only one in NM, they have the bulk of their franchise in AZ and three locations in CA. Interesting, will definitely go to try the ones in CA.

After our late dinner, we drove ourselves back to the motel. On the way, we realized we were atop a hill that oversees the city lights. Stopped and attempted to take a decent picture of the city lights but successfully failed at that attempt -- no tripod, shook too much, I guess. Oh well, next time.

Short Vac Day II - Needles, CA to Flagstaff, AZ

Thursday - May 26th, 2011

Grand Canyon and Flagstaff, AZ

15E to 40E. Not so eventful drive, we reached the motel at half past midnight. I think we did very good time. Exhausted, we checked in and unpack some of our stuff for breakfast. Weather was very dry and slightly windy.

Did not bother to shower, jumped straight into bed after putting on home brought sheets -- terrified of the bed bugs, just a small sacrifice for peace of mind.

Wasn't able to sleep that night, tired but still excited about the trip. Showered and made breakfast, croissant sandwiches splattered with chipotle mayo and a few pieces of cold cuts along with tomatoes, romaine, avocados. Also made a few extra for our side trip to Grand Canyon.

After loading all our stuff back into the car, it was well after 9:30AM, we hurriedly continue our journey -- this stretch will take about 4 hours to Grand Canyon South Rim. Not too long after we departed the motel, we start seeing directions to the mother road - Route 66. We thought that might be a whole lot more fun than continue on the I-40. So, we made an exit following the direction. Much to our astonishment, we discovered a pirate's cove as the sign ahead of us says. In the middle of a dessert-y place!?

More surprised to see there's a beach-like resort beyond that sign. Is this what they call an oasis?

Pulled out my trusty ol' phone to see exactly where we were and found out we were at the CA/AZ with the Colorado River running in between, and that is the oh-so-blue river. It looked so fake, even in person.

Again, we followed the sign for Route 66 but came up with a dead-end. So, we traced ourselves back and return to I-40 to resume our journey to Grand Canyon. Oh, found out later the pirate's cove is located at the Moabi Park - http://www.piratecoveresort.com/. Quite the hidden gem.

Oh well, back onto our journey, which we barely started, but glad we stumbled upon this area. Will come back and check this place out. Reached the park entrance after 2PM, quickly gathered our backpack and off we go for the grand view. Since I've been here once before, I already knew what to expect but it was JP's first time so, I observed her reactions, and as expected she was speechless.

View was breathtaking as always, weather was windy and dry. We proceeded to take some pictures and since we did not stop for lunch, we were famished and quickly find a nice spot to enjoy our sandwiches that we've made earlier. 

It was without a doubt, best spot I've ever had lunch at. We took a small cooler with all the vegetables -- tomatoes, cucumber, romaine, and avocados to complement our croissant-wich. Oh yeah, it took a little climbing down to get to that spot. Well worth it, and the stares we get from others that followed our descend down here... priceless. Bet they didn't think of having lunch on the spot!

After taking our time with sandwiches and absorbing the magnificent views, we made our way closer to the edge, taking some vanity pictures of ourselves conquering the skies or the full extent of the pictures...

We walked all the way until we reached the Grand Canyon Village about 3miles from the Visitor's Center, went into a souvenir shop that looked like a luxurious adobe home, except it wasn't made out of clay.

We didn't stay long enough to catch the sun set as it was getting late and I was worried about not finding the car in the dark. So, these were the last pictures taken by the Village:

Earlier during our walk, we encountered with this guy with lots of camera equipment, just standing and waiting. I was curious if he was waiting for a bird, or any creature, he said no, he was waiting for the "perfect light". I told him that's at least a couple more hours away... he just smiled. Typical photographers...

We were able to catch a ride back with the shuttle -- due to the high elevation, we felt exhausted with just the 3+mi walk. By the bus-stop, we spotted these:

There were few other people at the bus-stop and everyone's eyes were glued to the deer, I walked toward them to take a better picture, but little did I know a moose appeared at the other side of the road. Then I realized the shuttle was approaching so I quickly ran back to the bus-stop and missed the opportunity to take a picture of the moose. Almost everyone in the bus was enchanted by the sight of the moose.

Our stop was the last stop at Visitor's Center. I was thankful we didn't have to walk all the way back, besides the shuttle gave us a little tour of the whole village and other campsites that we wouldn't be aware of. By the time we got to the car, we were famished and temperature has certainly dropped as it was really chilly and I was still wearing shorts. We needed to refuel for our drive to Flagstaff which is about 1.5hrs away from GC. I was thankful we didn't have to search high and low for food, all just within reach in the backseat or trunk :D